Ferrari’s social media team have left Carlos Sainz completely baffled, with the Spaniard having joked under a recent Instagram post that he’s still alive!
The Maranello-based team posted a black and white image of Sainz on to social media, with Sainz having commented underneath, “I thought this was a RIP on me! But I’m still here”.
It certainly shows that Sainz has a comical dark side to his humour, ahead of what is an important campaign for the Spaniard.
2023 is, of course, Sainz’s third season as a Ferrari driver, with him having just two years left now on his contract.
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Sainz must perform well this year, after he only finished fifth in the Drivers’ Championship last season, whilst team-mate Charles Leclerc claimed second.
The Spaniard only won a single race last season, something which certainly doesn’t scream title contender.
He needs to get himself much closer to Leclerc this season, both to increase his hopes of winning the title, but also so that he can support Ferrari’s bid for the Constructors’ Championship.
Pre-season testing showed that Ferrari are perhaps entering 2023 slightly behind Red Bull, meaning it’ll be more important than ever to simply claim the best result possible, in the hope that it benefits them towards the end of the season.
Red Bull looked superior in testing, but Sainz isn’t reading into their pace too much just yet, due to not knowing what “exact engine mode” they rain during testing.
“I don’t know because I don’t know the exact engine mode they’re running,” he said, when asked how strong Red Bull look.
“It’s part of the evolution of our cars, trying to make it less draggy and try to get close to Red Bull on the straights.
“I hope that we can be closer. Are we going to be quicker or the same as them on the straights? We don’t know.”
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Ferrari’s strength this season is likely to be their straight-line speed, which was exceptional during testing.
Their initial weakness so far appears to be in the corners, though, which was interestingly their strength last season.
When the engines are running at their maximum, it’s likely that Ferrari will make up time in the first and last sector, whilst they’ll likely lose considerable time to Red Bull during the twisty middle sector.